OUR POSITION — AI ISN’T THE ISSUE. HOW WE USE IT IS.

​

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of how we work, learn, create, communicate and make decisions. Its potential is extraordinary. So are the questions its use raises. The CONTAIN Initiative exists because those questions should not be left only to technology companies, governments or experts. They affect all of us.

​

AI is a tool. What matters is what people choose to do with it, where we choose to use it, what authority we give it, what limits we establish, and who is accountable when its use affects other people. AI offers extraordinary potential to improve lives, expand knowledge, increase productivity, advance science and solve problems we may not otherwise be able to solve. It also presents serious risks—from fraud, manipulation and loss of privacy to economic disruption, autonomous systems and uses we may not yet foresee.

​

At the center of the CONTAIN Initiative’s position is a simple question: What happens when an artificial intelligence system has the ability to take action or cause change outside itself?

​

That ability marks an important boundary. Once an AI system can act beyond itself—directly affecting people, information, property, financial systems, infrastructure, institutions, other systems or the physical world—the question is no longer simply what the technology can do. We must also ask what it should be allowed to do, under whose authority, within what limits, with what safeguards, and with whom accountability ultimately rests.

​

The CONTAIN Initiative believes appropriate safeguards and meaningful oversight should be prerequisites to the deployment of ANY artificial intelligence system with the ability to take action or cause change outside itself. Where its capabilities and potential consequences warrant it, those prerequisites should include effective regulation. The protections should be proportionate to what the system is capable of doing and the potential consequences of its actions.

​

Not every action or change carries the same risk. An AI system that turns down the lights in your home is very different from one capable of shutting down electrical power to a county or state. Both can take action and cause change outside themselves, but the safeguards required should reflect what each system is capable of doing and the potential consequences if something goes wrong. The principle remains the same: safeguards should precede deployment, not follow harm.

​

Technology should not be permitted to outrun our ability to govern its use. As AI capabilities advance, the safeguards, oversight and regulation governing those capabilities should advance with them. Those protections may be established at the local, state or national levels, but preferably at the international level when the technology and its risks cross national boundaries. Artificial intelligence is inherently global, and some of its most consequential uses may ultimately require international standards and cooperation.

​

This does not mean stopping artificial intelligence or resisting innovation. It means progress and protection should advance together. We should not have to choose between realizing the extraordinary benefits of AI and establishing reasonable protections against its misuse or unintended consequences. The greater an AI system’s ability to take action or cause change outside itself, the greater our responsibility to understand, govern and, where necessary, contain that ability before it is deployed.

​

The CONTAIN Initiative exists to follow the news, examine the issues, raise difficult questions, identify emerging risks, sound the alarm when circumstances warrant it, explore possible solutions, and encourage people to participate in decisions that will help shape our future.

​

We seek information from multiple sources and invite differing perspectives. We attempt to distinguish fact from opinion, identify our sources, and contribute to a collectively informed discussion in which people can question, examine and reach their own conclusions.

​

The CONTAIN Initiative does not exist to provide all the answers. We exist to help chart a path toward them—by seeking information, raising questions, examining differing perspectives, identifying risks and opportunities, and encouraging an informed public discussion about the choices ahead. The answers will not come from CONTAIN alone. They will emerge from researchers, educators, businesses, governments, communities and individuals willing to participate in shaping how artificial intelligence is used.

​

Our purpose is not to tell people what to think, but to help create a more informed path toward deciding what we should do together.